Missouri’s Age, Down Syndrome Abortion Bans Remain Blocked

Missouri may not enforce laws restricting abortions performed after eight weeks gestation or solely because of a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome, the Eighth Circuit said Wednesday.

Both provisions ban—rather than regulate—previability abortions, and thus likely are unconstitutional under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said.

The Supreme Court has held that a woman has a right to end a pregnancy before a fetus would be able to live outside the womb. Before viability, a state doesn’t have a strong enough interest to prohibit abortion or create a substantial obstacle to that ...